Developing 'Age-Friendly' Communities

The Experience of International Retired Migrants

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2392371
AutoresMarion Repetti (0000-0002-1328-321X, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, Switzerland, autor correspondente), Toni Calasanti (0009-0008-1486-4850, Virginia Tech), C Phillipson (0000-0001-6220-2722, University of Manchester)
Ano2024
Volume29
Fascículo4
Páginas981-997
Data de publicação2024-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSociological Research Online (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1360-7804 • E-ISSN: 1360-7804
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/13607804231217788
OpenAlexW4390953315
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas42

Over the past two decades, the need to create 'age-friendly cities and communities' (AFCC) has emerged as a major theme in policies aimed at improving old people's physical and social environment. The World Health Organization (WHO) has driven this agenda through the launch in 2010 of the Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities. Support for ageing in place has, at the same time, run alongside an increase in international retirement migration, with people choosing not to age in their existing neighbourhood but rather to relocate to another country. The growth of retirement migration has occurred in the context of specialized housing and leisure-orientated developments in cheaper countries targeting retirees from richer countries. This article draws on the narratives of retirees of the UK, Switzerland, France and the USA who have relocated to Spain, Costa Rica and Mexico on a permanent basis. It highlights the reasons migrants put forward to explain the advantages of living in their new home, and what we can learn about the conditions for an age-friendly living environment. This article begins with a review of the development of age-friendly cities and communities, then outlines the concept of 'elective belonging' which is used to provide a framework for understanding the growth of retirement migration. Following an overview of current knowledge on retirement migration and a discussion of the methodology of the study, we present the results from interviews with retired migrants about their experiences within their new communities. Finally, we discuss the implications of our study for developing research and policies which acknowledge how age as a social status may be used as a means of fostering the integration of older people within their communities

Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Political science · Sociology · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · Retirement, Disability, and Employment